More than 1,800 people attended the A96 Dualling public exhibitions over the last three weeks, Transport Scotland has said.

The exhibitions were held in nine venues along the route between Inverness and Aberdeen and allowed local communities the chance to comment on the Scottish Government's plans to dual the A96.

The display included the route options under consideration for the section of the A96 between Inverness to Nairn, as well as related work on the Nairn Bypass.

Commenting, Transport Minister Keith Brown said: "The fact that over 1800 people took the time to visit our public exhibitions is testament to the amount of interest in this ambitious dualling programme.

"The A96 dualling programme will involve the construction of over 88 miles of new dual carriageway, bringing reduced journey times and improved journey time reliability and safety.

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"Such a programme of work requires in depth planning and design to ensure that we deliver the right project at the right price and keep impacts on communities, business and the environment to the absolute minimum.

"Due to the work done to date we have been able to put on display over the last few weeks the eight route options under consideration for the A96 between Inverness and Nairn and the nine route options for a Nairn Bypass. Along with the on-going assessment of these options we will also take into consideration the vital feedback we receive from these exhibitions with a view to announcing a preferred option for this section of the A96 in 2014.

"In addition to Nairn, the A96 bisects a number of other communities, and we have highlighted the need for bypasses around Forres, Elgin, Keith and Inverurie. Once the ongoing preliminary engineering and environmental assessment work is completed in about 12-18 months' time, detailed route options will be progressed and preferred routes for these bypasses identified as soon as possible. Further public exhibitions will be held as our plans are developed.

"In the meantime, the public still have a chance to comment on the recent plans that were on show and I would urge anyone with an interest to visit the A96 Dualling website and comment before 31 January 2014."

(JP/IT)